Snapshots
by panda367
Summary: A look at an important day in each of the Rent characters lives. Chapter 5, Joanne, up 3.12.05! REVIEW!
1. The World Stopped for Just an Instant

A/N: This is my third story on here. I know this has been done many times recently, but I got an idea and am going to try this. "Snapshots" will cover an important day in each of the Rent character's past, starting with Roger. Like I said, it's very similar to a bunch of other fics out there, but I'll try to make mine unique. REVIEW and I'll give you a cookie!

Snapshots

Chapter 1: The World Stopped for Just an Instant

It was the same every Thanksgiving. Dad would sit down in front of the TV watching seemingly endless hours of football, Mom would overcook the stuffing, and my perfect older sister, Leah, would come home and ask me to help her cook the Thanksgiving dinner. And it stayed that way the Thanksgiving that I was thirteen. I had wanted to be hanging out with my friends, or at least being somewhere other than my house, but my mother insisted on all of us being there, since Leah rarely came home from Yale. And at noon that day, it was the same old thing.

"You know what's really great about Thanksgiving, Roger?" my Dad asked me as he was about to sit on our couch.

"Family togetherness?" I answered weakly, hoping that that was the answer that he was looking for.

"Nope. Getting to watch endless hours of my favorite sport, football. Starting right now," he said as he turned on the television. I walked into the kitchen to check up on how Mom was doing with the cooking. I could start to smell her cooking, and it wasn't a very pleasant smell. Suddenly, a big cloud of smoke came rising up from the stove. Mom had overcooked the stuffing once again.

"Wayne!" she shouted at my Dad. "It seems that I've overcooked the stuffing. Now how could that have happened?"

"What do you mean, 'how could that have happened', you do it every year," I said sullenly.

"Roger! Behave yourself. Your sister will be here any minute."

Just then Leah came in through the front door, her arms overflowing with food and other Thanksgiving goodies.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" she said in that always-cheerful voice of hers.

"Oh Leah! You're home! Come help me with this food, I'm so glad you're here!" Mom said, hugging Leah. Then Leah spotted me.

"Hi baby brother!" she exclaimed, forcing me into a hug. I pulled away quickly.

"Don't call me that!" I shouted at her, but she never listened to me, even when I told her that every year. I tried to sneak up to my room to go and play my guitar, but Leah caught me.

"Oh Roger! Come here and help me peel the potatoes, please. And after that I need you to help me with the pies."

Yup, everything was going as it always had been. Now Leah was going to keep me working preparing food until dinner, where we would all say what we were thankful for. I can predict everyone's answers right now. "Football" (Dad), "Family togetherness" (Leah), "Good food" (Mom) and I'll probably give some half-assed answer that I don't really mean, like the fact that Leah's home with us.

I had been peeling the potatoes for about ten minutes when Leah announced that she was running out to the supermarket to pick up something for the dinner. I forgot what it was- probably something for the dessert, but it didn't matter. I barely noticed her leaving at the time, but if I had known what was going to happen, I would have remembered it more clearly than I do now.

I remember that when Leah didn't return after an hour, Mom started to worry. The supermarket was only about fifteen minutes from our house, but at the time Mom figured that she just was having trouble finding what she needed. After two hours, she started to panic. At precisely 4:15 (I don't know why I remember the exact time) we received a phone call. Mom answered. Before she even picked up the phone, I knew that something bad had happened. Don't ask me how I knew, but I just had this feeling. My suspicions were confirmed when Mom's face turned as white as a ghost as soon as she started talking. She nodded, wrote down a few things, and then told me to get Dad from the living room. I had to turn off the TV for him to listen to me, but eventually got him to go talk to Mom, who was crying at this point.

Mom slowly spoke to us as tears were streaming down her face.

"Wayne, Roger, that was the police department. Leah was in a car accident, and-" Tears started to run down her face uncontrollably as Dad handed her a tissue.

"Is she ok?" I asked.

Mom looked at me, sobbing, and managed to form an answer.

"No, Roger. She's dead."

Then the world stopped for just an instant. I don't remember anything after Mom made that announcement, because I was still trying to get the fact in my head. Leah, dead? It couldn't be. Leah is going to walk through the door right now, her arms full of food, saying, "Sorry I'm late, the traffic was horrible" and then we'll have our Thanksgiving dinner. That's what's going to happen. She's not dead. No.

And then I heard Mom and Dad talk about the funeral arrangements, and about the accident itself, and as the hours went by, I knew it was true.

We didn't have a proper Thanksgiving dinner that night. I mean, how can you stand to be thankful when your sister just died?

We ate our meal in stark silence, only talking to ask someone to pass the potatoes or something trivial like that. Thanksgiving wouldn't be a time for the family to be together anymore. One of them was dead.

And I thought about how I acted to Leah on the last day of her life, and I wished that life had a rewind button on it so that I could be nicer to her. Because I'm not going to hear Leah call me "baby brother" ever again.

And I never got a chance to say goodbye.


	2. Such is Life

A/N: Let me first give a huge thanks to the-fraulein and bohemiancane04 for reviewing! Woot! And here's your virtual cookies: (::) They're chocolate chip, lol. I'll give you 2 virtual cookies if you guess what kid's TV show I stole the first part of the last chapter from! This next chapter was actually supposed to be in Before it all Began, kind of, but I'm abandoning that story, and it fit in well here, so here it is. This chapter is kind of different from the last one, and shorter, so be prepared. REVIEW!

Snapshots

Chapter 2: Such is Life (Mimi)

It's 11 o'clock at night, and I have vague memories of when I shimmied through my bedroom window to sneak out to Tawny Lockhart's end of school (and sophmore year) party earlier tonight. My brain has already been filled with way too many chemicals but, such is life. And Darryl, my current boyfriend, is here too...god, he's so awesome. But so is Darryl's cousin, Luis, who's nineteen and here at the party too. Of course, I could never actually tell Darryl that I have a crush on his cousin, because then he'd break up with me right then and there, and then I wouldn't have a boyfriend. Besides, Tawny told me that she has a crush on Luis too. Figures. Oh well. This is a rocking party, anyway. Man, Tawny sure throws good parties. And her parents are away on business, too, so we all have the entire house to ourselves. There's so many people here, too. Lacey, Tawny's older sister, goes to the local community college and bought all the alcohol for us. Lacey also invited a bunch of her friends from college to the party too. It's really a joint party for both Tawny and Lacey, which is great. So what if I'm completely smashed? It doesn't really matter. I'm having a great time anyway.

I don't know what time it is. Who cares? I just had some great sex with Luis. Yes, that Luis, Darryl's cousin. And I don't really give a damn that I'm completely cheating on Darryl right now with his cousin. I doubt I'll remember this in the morning. Good thing Darryl didn't find out. He'd kill me... But Luis won't say anything, no. He said that he liked me, too, which I didn't suspect. I mean, he's nineteen. But he's Darryl's cousin, so he's just as good as Darryl, in fact, he's better. Better than ever. And now I have to brag brag brag in front of Miss Tawny Peterson about my time with Luis while I still remember it. Secretly, of course, so Darryl doesn't find out. But Tawny will be jealous of me, yes she will. And for once I will come on top, instead of her, even though she has Rick Jackson, the quarterback of the football team, as her boyfriend.

It's extremely early in the morning, I know that, but everyone is still awake, of course. The pulsating rhythm of the loud music from Tawny's huge boom box is starting to get to me. It's so loud that I can't hear Darryl coming up to me. He looks angry... shit, he must have found out about me and Luis. But I never told anyone, except Tawny...who must have told everyone else at the party, by the looks I'm getting. That bitch. Darryl's more drunk than I am tonight, which is surprising, I usually outdrink him. In a split second he pushes me into the wall, and it's as if the music has stopped, but it hasn't. Everyone in the room has just gone completely silent for a moment.

"You little slut!" he shouts, "You whore! I hate you, bitch."

"Darryl... no." I say in a weak apology, but it's too late for that.

His punch seems to go towards my face in slow motion. But as soon as his fist meets my face, I am met with such an excruciating pain that I fall to the ground. I'm falling, falling onto the floor of Tawny's living room. Onto the hardwood floor of Tawny's living room, and as soon as my head meets the floor, my eyes close.

And then it all went black.

According to the digital clock, it's 3:17 in the morning. Digital clock? What? My head hurts really bad, and I'm in the backseat of someone's car. Then I struggle to remember the events of this past night...Tawny's party...sex with Luis... Darryl...Oh, Darryl. We are through for sure now. Damn. Of course, I did sleep with his cousin, but that's beside the point. He didn't have to fucking punch me, though. Bastard. I still don't know whose car I'm in, though, but they know me enough to drop me off at my house. I start to thank them, and then I decide that it's better if I don't, considering the fact that I threw up in the backseat of their car.

I then realize that I have to open up my bedroom window from the outside to get into my house, because I snuck out in the first place and have no key. Fuck. I manage to get the window open, but I think I woke up my younger sister in the process.

I make my way to the bathroom and proceed to throw up everything that I had this past night. I hope to god no one hears me. I'll be dead for sure. Then I go up to the mirror and try to wash off my face in hopes that no one will ask if I was out anywhere tonight. But someone is bound to ask about my face. Shit.

I stumble into my bedroom, hoping sleep will come soon. In the morning I will wonder why I have a bruise on my face. Oh well. Such is life.


	3. Another Show

A/N: THANK YOU THANK YOU for the positive reviews everyone! the-fraulein, Mimi Chica, ChelseaEvans, and Morbid Muse get cookies! (::) I hope you like this chapter as much as you liked the first two. Merry Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa/Festivus/Winter Solstice! I'm posting this chapter before I go to SEE RENT as my Christmas present! I leave on Monday, it's going to rock! REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!

Snapshots

Chapter 3: Another Show (Maureen)

I'm applying my eyeshadow when Stan, the director, pops his head backstage.

"Guys, people are already starting to come in. Be prepared for another full house, people."

"Stan, we kind of know that this show is going to be packed. It _is_ Halloween, after all. You don't have to keep drilling it into our heads," I answer.

"But Maureen, this is the most packed night, some of you are bound to be nervous, it's our biggest show of the year..." Stan said, looking more nervous by the minute.

"Stan, listen to me. I've been performing in this show with you directing me for a long time, and I know for a fact that on Halloween night, you get more nervous than any of us performing up there. You right now are more nervous than I was the first night I was Janet, and I was a wreck that night. You remember, you were there."

"Of course I remember, Maureen. I almost had to have Kristy- she was the understudy at that time- take over for you at the last minute because you refused to come out of the bathroom, you were so nervous."

"Yes, yes. I don't really want to remember any more of that night, so don't say anything else about it, ok Stan? And please, calm down. We are going to do great, like we always do."

"I know that Maureen, but I always get nervous on the Halloween show, and you know that. What time is it?" he said to himself, looking at his watch. "Oh God, we're behind schedule already, this is not good..." he mumbled, going off into another direction backstage.

Yup, that's Stan all right. He's been my director ever since I started performing in the local cast of _The Rocky Horror Show_. When I first started off in the cast, which was a long time ago, I was an usherette, but slowly made my way up to playing Janet all the time. It's really, really fun, and ever since I saw the movie I wanted to star in it. Now I'm getting my chance every weekend at midnight. Even though it's great and everything, I sometimes wish that I could just leave this small town and go somewhere. I can't play Janet forever. I've always wanted to go to New York City. I went there once, when I was eleven years old. I went with my grandma, who took me to see a show on Broadway. I honestly don't remember much of it, because I couldn't see the stage for most of the show. I was very short for my age, and wasn't able to see for most of the first act because a very tall person was seated right in front of me. Then- and I remember this very clearly- this very rich, obviously socialite woman who was seated next to us took off her large fur coat and put it on my seat as I was about to sit down. When I sat down on her coat, I could see everything.

"Now you can see Broadway," she said in a very posh voice.

And to this day I can remember that whole day in New York in vivid detail, and when I left on the train to go back to Connecticut, where my grandmother lived, I knew that I would go back there someday.

And here I am. It's so many years since that day and I still haven't made it back yet. And now I'm stuck here, in a small-town theater, performing in _The Rocky Horror Show_, and it's not like I can suddenly quit, because they need me here. Everyone knows that I'm one of the best ones in the cast. The other females in the cast either are already playing a major role or can't sing whatsoever. Barb, my current understudy, sucks the most. One time I had laryngitis and they put Barb on for me. I heard that Barb was so horrible that night that people were begging for me to come back. And I've been with Stan a long time, and he wouldn't want me to leave. And Stan knows that everyone in the cast is good- but me, I could be great. That's why he's kept me this whole time. Normally he'd let someone else take over, in fact, he was planning on letting Barb do it but after she went on that one time he knew that he would have to stick with me.

"Maureen! Come here, the people are starting to come into the theater! Let's look!" Kristy, who was my best friend and now playing Columbia full-time exclaimed. Kristy had been with Stan and the cast longer than any of us. She and Stan also have had an off-again, on-again relationship over the years. They've gotten pretty heated up together while drunk at the cast parties that Stan routinely throws. The thing is, Kristy is basically the psychotic energy of the cast, and no one wants her to leave, even though she keeps on hinting that she will soon.

"Coming Kristy!" I shouted as we gathered near the only window backstage, where we could see people beginning to line up for the show already.

"God, it's packed. Look at all those people. It's gotten bigger every year I've been here- and I've been here a long time!" Kristy announced. As I was looking at the people in line, my eyes got drawn to two people in particular. They were standing in line together. One of them looked kind of annoying with long blonde hair, but the other one was the one that I was focusing my attention on. He was shorter than the other guy, and was wearing glasses and a striped scarf. I am instantly attracted to him, even though Rick and I just started going steady a couple weeks ago. But this guy is so much hotter than Rick, who was starting to annoy me.

"That one, right there, looks really hot," I said, pointing to him.

"Ooh, Maureen has a crush!" Kristy teased. "But aren't you already with Rick?"

"Who cares about Rick? This one is better."

"That's exactly what you said when you dumped Freddy for Rick, Maureen. But this new one is certainly attractive."

"What? Don't tell me you like him too!"

"It's hard not to, Maureen. But I'll let you have him, if you want, just this once, ok? I hope Rick isn't too disappointed. Stan'll have a fit if he catches me with someone other than him, besides."

"Is he still attracted to you?"

"Of course _he_ is, I'm the one that's not. The only reason I got into this show in the first place was because of him."

"Kristy, that's not true. You can sing better than I can."

"Ha! You know that's not true, Maureen. You're lying through your teeth. You're better than all the rest of us, me included. Stan won't let you leave because Barb sounds like crap and Sue gets nervous every time she sets foot on the stage! If we hadn't been together before, he would've found a replacement for me ages ago."

"Kristy, if we both didn't have to go onstage soon, I would feel free to debate you on that point, but we all know how freaked out Stan can get about the Halloween show. Let's go." As I walked away from the window, I collided with Marty, who would be playing Brad tonight. He's such a klutz, onstage and off.

"Gosh Maureen, sorry. I really didn't mean to run into you like that, I was just...sorry." Marty's a sweet kid. He's a lot younger than I am, but is really talented, actually. I think he actually has a small crush on me, which works really well when we're onstage, but I definitely wouldn't want to pursue anything with him offstage at all.

"Five minutes, that's right, five minutes till showtime folks. Get ready, get ready. Everyone, places. Carol, please come here and stop spraying that hairspray on. Your hair is absolutely fine, I promise you. Vivian, get down there where you need to be for the first song.

Yup, another weekend, another midnight, and yet another show. Same as always, except it's Halloween, and we have a bigger crowd than ever. Carol goes overboard with her Magenta hair. Vivian is nervous, as this is her first Halloween show. It's perfectly normal and yet the energy around the cast is different because it's Halloween. And now all I have on my mind is that guy I saw. I want to meet him after the show, if I can. He doesn't look like the type of guy who has a girlfriend, but you never know. And even if he is single, I'll probably never see him after this night. Figures.

"One minute, people, one minute, do you hear me, I everyone in their places now!"

As I hear the opening bars for "Science Fiction Double Feature" I begin to mouth the words along with the audience.

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, God said 'Let there be lips', and there were. And they were good."

And then I hear Vivian began to sing the music. Another weekend, another show.

As soon as I make my first entrance, I see my "crush" sitting in the front row. How he got front row seats, I'll never know. Those things are hard to get. I usually try to stare at someone when I sing my songs-it helps me to focus- and all through "Toucha Toucha Toucha Touch Me" I was looking at him. I really wanted to see him again, maybe after the show, but Rick was planning to meet me to, if he wasn't out partying again. Rick usually tries to see me in the shows, but he usually never remembers because he's drunk off his ass. He knows how much being in the show means to me, though, so he tries to make it when he can. Knowing him, he'll probably show up today and find me before I have a chance to talk to my crush. Figures.

After the show, Kristy runs up to me, hyper as usual.

"Did you see him?" I asked her.

"Who?"

"You know, that hot guy I saw before the show with you!"

"The one you were staring at in the front row?"

"Was it that noticeable?"

"Um, yeah. Everyone could see it. You should see if you could meet him after the show."

"No. For one thing, Rick is supposed to meet me after the show-"

"He never does, Maureen. You know that."

"Well, he's probably got a girlfriend, besides."

"Which you won't know unless you talk to him. Come on, let's go."

After we finished getting out of our costumes and makeup, Kristy and I set off to find the guy. I was hoping that we wouldn't find him, but we caught him just as he was about to step out of the theater. Kristy practically had to push me into him to get me to talk to him.

"Um, hi. I'm Maureen, I played Janet in the show." Why was I so nervous? Normally I'm not nervous around guys at all, but as I was talking to this guy, I swear my heart was beating out of my chest.

"I'm Mark. You did a good job." Mark. Now I have a name to my mysterious crush. Nice name.

"Do you...live around here?" I asked. I must sound like such a dork. I shouldn't have even tried.

"No, actually. Me and Roger here were going down to visit my parents. I live in a loft in New York City, and Roger's my roommate," Mark said, gesturing towards Roger, who muttered a hello to me.

Great. He doesn't even live around here. Kristy was right, I'll never see him again.

"So, boys, me and Maureen were thinking of stopping for a little after-midnight snack after the show. You want to go with us?" Kristy asked. I hadn't even realized that she was still here, but she sure got me out of an awkward situation.

"Sure. You know any places here that are open at this hour?" Mark asked.

"I know of some," I replied.

And as I looked into Mark's eyes, and he looked into mine, I realized that tonight was not just another show.


	4. Goodbye

A/N: NYC was awesome. Rent was so so awesomecool, I loved it!!! Cookies to Alana and another musical theatre teenybopper (::) REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!

Snapshots

Chapter 4: Goodbye(April)

You should go to the doctor. That's what Roger said today, when I threw up and couldn't stop coughing. You should go to the doctor.

So I went to the clinic, even though I hate going to the doctor. I hate hospitals in general. The sterilized smell and atmosphere gets to me, it always does. Mama died in the hospital, too. She had some disease. I was four. I barely remember her at all. I remember that Mama would always sing me a song to go to sleep. She would sing "Over the Rainbow" before she got sick. That was my favorite song. I watched _The Wizard of Oz_ until I practically had it memorized, and when me and my older sisters, May, June, and July, got to see Mama, I would perform it for her. That would always make Mama smile. And then Mama died. She died right in the hospital, and I was there, when she died. I couldn't see the hospital bed, but I heard her last word: goodbye. That's all she said. "Goodbye." And after that, I remember asking my Dad if I was going to die next. He looked at me long and hard and told me that me and my sisters were lucky to not have what Mama had, and that we wouldn't get sick like she did.

But still, ever since that day, I've hated hospitals and going to the doctor. But I felt like shit today, and I haven't been to the doctor in forever, so I went. I sat in the small, sterilized waiting room and filled out forms and sat in the stiff-backed chairs until they called my name.

"April McHugh," the receptionist called. I stood up and walked into the doctor's office. I was instantly reminded of Mama as soon as I walked in. I hate doctor's offices.

He had me take a blood test. I didn't think much of it at the time. I didn't know how much it mattered.

The doctor told me to sit in the waiting room until my test results were in. I still felt like shit as I pretended to read a magazine in the waiting room, averting the eyes of everyone else.

"April McHugh, your test results are in," the receptionist called.

"_April McHugh, your test results are in."_ The receptionist had such an innocent, sweet voice. Makes me sick. I walked into the doctor's office nonchalantly, unprepared for the news that I was about to face. In fact, I was half-listening to the words the doctor was saying. I needed to get out of this place. It reminded me too much of Mama. Then I started to hear snippets of what the doctor was saying, and my mind stopped.

"Positive for HIV..." he began saying, but I didn't hear anything past that. HIV. I remember hearing that somewhere before, maybe when I was a kid. Then I remembered. Mama. That's what she had. But Dad said that I didn't have it... I must have gotten it from shooting up. Figures. But that means that Roger...probably has it too. Fuck. And now I'm going to die. I'm going to die, just like Mama, just like her..."

"April? Are you all right?" Damn doctor interrupted my chain of thought.

"I'm fine, just...fine." Ha. Nothing farther from the truth there. Fine. Yeah, I've just been diagnosed with a fatal disease, and I'm fine. And my boyfriend has it too, because we're such idiots. Fine. The doctor continued on, handing me a prescription for AZT and a printout of the test results, but I wasn't listening. I walked wordlessly out of the office. How was I going to break this to Roger? He'll kill me for not being careful enough, and now we're both going to end up like Mama. Dead. Fuck.

When I arrive at the loft, there's a note on the table:

_April-_

_At band practice. Mark's out filming something in Central Park. Be back soon._

_Love you-_

_Roger_

"_Love you"_ How can he possibly love me now? How could anyone possibly love me now? I had to pee, so I went into the bathroom, where I saw my pink razor sitting on the bathroom counter.

And then a thought crept up in my mind. I had tried it before, but I'd be better this time. I remember the last time. I never had a real reason last time, I was probably just depressed, and I slit my wrists across the veins and not along them. June found me in the bathroom that we shared, but there was still enough time to save me. But this time, I'll do it right. This time, I have a real reason.

I ran the bathtub and waited for the water to come out warm and clean. I looked at the clock. I had to do this quick, or else someone would come home and see me. Hastily, I wrote a note across the bathroom mirror in the "Shocking Red" lipstick that I bought last week, but haven't worn yet.

_We've got AIDS_. That's all it needed to say. Short and sweet and to the point. The tub was almost full now. I took the razor, and contemplated my decision for a split second before I decided to just do it.

Goodbye.


	5. Strawberry Flavored Lips

A/N: Yay! An updation! (Finally) I've been really busy, and this chapter was a bitch to write, which is why this update is so late. I know these have been (so far) going in a somewhat chronological order, this chapter is going to screw that up, so forget all that stuff. This isn't your usual Joanne chapter, but it's my first time writing Joanne, and it was really hard to write this chapter. Many thanks (and cookies) to Stella italia, and especially the-fraulein for her nice PM to me on compulsivebowlers, and her reviewing of 3 chapters (:). REVIEW and cookies shall come your way!

Snapshots

Chapter Five: Strawberry Flavored Lips (Joanne)

She dropped her strawberry flavored chapstick on the floor by my feet one day in class. That's the first thing I remember about her. That, and her hair. The long blond curls bounced up and down to her waist, with streaks of brown intertwined within them. I picked up her chapstick, which had fallen from her small black purse. She had one of those purses that look too small to possibly hold anything useful, but she managed to fit a bunch of stuff in there, from the looks of it. As I gave her chapstick back, I looked straight into her eyes, which were this wonderful pale blue color, and her big full lips, which weren't really chapped to begin with.

"Joanne! Cassandra! Are you listening to me?" Mr. Cambridge, our biology teacher, asked. It didn't matter, though, because the bell rang shortly after, signaling the end of the school day. Along with the bell, an impossibly loud thunderclap boomed at around the same time. The skies opened up with pouring, pulsating raindrops falling on the sidewalk. Shit. Normally Mother picks me up at school, but today she and Daddy are both working, so I have to walk home. I usually don't mind, but I just know that I'll end up looking like a dead rat in the rain.

As I gathered my various schoolbooks in my locker and start the trek home, I notice her again. Cassandra. What a beautiful name. She is so attractive, just look at her. Wait, who am I kidding? She's probably with the captain of the football team or something, with my luck. She'd never want to be with someone like me, she...

"Hey, Joanne, what's up?" It's her. Cassandra. Here.

"Hey...what are you doing here?" I ask. What a stupid question. She's walking home, of course.

"Just...walking home, I guess. I normally have choir practice after school, but it got cancelled today. So I guess I have to walk home today."

"Man, it's pouring out here. I mean, I don't even have an umbrella or anything. I'm gonna get soaked." What am I doing? Talking about the weather. Only the most boring topic ever. Of course it's raining, and I'm going to look horrible with my hair wet.

"You're right about that. I totally didn't expect it to rain today. I'm certainly not dressed for the weather." Cassandra was wearing a white T-shirt with a small cartoon drawing of a cat on it and pink shorts. But none of us suspected it would rain today, really- it came really abruptly. It had looked like a nice, sunny late April day until the rain started, screwing up the plans of a lot of people.

The rain was coming down even harder than it was when it started, and when it started it came down pretty quickly. And Cassandra was still walking right next to me. She must live at least remotely near me, or she would've turned down one of the many side streets, and we would've continued on our separate ways. But today she didn't have choir practice after school, and it was raining pretty hard, and she continued to walk beside me.

We were coming up to Edgerton Park, which wasn't really that much of a park to begin with. It had a rusty swing set, slide, and jungle gym for the little kids, a few barbeque pits and picnic tables, and a big wooden shelter with several picnic tables under it, but that was it. There was a main trail through the park that led right to my street, which I turned onto instinctively. Surprisingly, Cassandra turned onto the same trail. Now, I knew that Cassandra couldn't possibly live on my street, and I probably would've seen her walking to school or something if she lived near it. The rain continued to soak our clothes as we walked down the long trail.

"Joanne! It's raining really, really hard out here, and I'm really cold. Is your house really close to here so I can use your phone or something? I live really far away from here, and maybe my mom could pick me up." Mother didn't want me to have friends over when I was to be home alone. I suppose I could make an...exception for Cassandra though, given the circumstances. We soon reached my house. I put my key in the door to let us in, and went to turn on a light. Nothing happened.

"The power must be out," I said. "I guess you can't call your mom now."

"Can I wait at your house until the storm ends?" Cassandra asked. I hesitated. I would love to have Cassandra at my house, but I wouldn't want Mother to come home and have her jump to the wrong conclusion.

"There's a shelter at the park. Why don't we wait there for the storm to end?"

"We? Wouldn't you want to stay at your house?" Cassandra questioned. In truth, I would want to maximize my time with Cassandra as much as possible, given her attractiveness, but I didn't want _her_ to know that.

"Yeah...the power's out at my house anyway, and I don't have anything to do." What a lame excuse on my part. Cassandra probably thinks I'm a little strange by now. Whatever. Me and Cassandra walked towards the shelter. Inside the shelter, the rain was pouring down hard on the roof. It sounded like a million little drum beats going off simultaneously. In order to say a word to each other, we had to shout.

For a while, neither of us could think of anything to say. I looked over at her. Cassandra's once lively blonde curls hung limp against her back. Her eye makeup was running down the sides of her cheeks because of the rain. Her T-shirt was completely soaked through. Her _white_ T-shirt, which allowed me to get a very nice view of her body. I tried to not look like I was staring at her chest, but I think she ended up noticing anyway. Man, she's so beautiful. This is probably the only time she's ever noticed me, but I've seen her for a while. I've just never noticed how pretty she is until today. And after today, she'll probably never notice me again, as she always did. This might be my only chance to be with her. The storm didn't seem like it was letting up anytime soon.

"Cassandra?" I called to her weakly.

"Oh, Joanne, you can call me Cassie. Everyone does." Cassie. That sounds even prettier. What a nice name. I walked closer to her.

"Um, Cassie...this is gonna sound really weird, but I think you're really...nice." Nice. Now she really thinks I'm nuts.

"Thanks for the compliment." I knew she'd act like this. Oh well. I might as well just kiss her and get it over with. That's what I wanted to do all along. I pull Cassie towards me and put my mouth up to hers. I know she'll immediately pull away, but I just want to experience it for a couple seconds. Her lips taste like the chapstick she had on earlier. I wait for Cassie to pull away from me and run away but, amazingly, she doesn't. We just sit there, kissing, for what seems like a long time but probably isn't that long. Cassie's a great kisser. Then she backs off.

"Joanne, I'm sorry, but I can't do this. I know you probably think I was fine with us kissing, but I wasn't. It's not that I don't like you or anything, you're a sweet kid, but it's not like that at all. And I know you probably expected more, but that's all you're gonna get. You should be lucky I even let you kiss me. I'm...sorry."

Cassie walks away. I don't follow. The rain tapers off into a steady trickle. The sun peaks out from behind the clouds. I walk back to my house. What was I thinking? I knew Cassie didn't like me in that way. I _knew _it. And yet I still kissed her. But I'll always remember that kiss in the rain, and Cassie's strawberry-flavored lips, for a long time.


End file.
